Susan asked the Board to introduce themselves to each other as there were new board members in attendance. She then gave TJ a gift certificate and thanked him for his hard work on the website.

Susan updated the Board on various projects including LULA and the Flood Recovery Workshop. She said the LULA event had been successful and well attended and she believes it has set the stage for future collaboration. She noted APA Colorado’s involvement with LULA was due to Don Elliot’s advocacy on our behalf. She said she has recently had a call from Western Resource Advocates regarding involvement with public art or community gardens at the RTD stops. Susan then talked about APA Colorado’s involvement with the national New Partners for Smart Growth conference coming to Denver in February and then talked about the partnership with FEMA and DOLA for the Flood Recovery Workshop. She noted that APA Colorado was able to assist with the leg work and that the Loveland Embassy Suites covered all food, beverage, audio/visual and rental room costs for the event. Peer groups from Vermont, Missouri and Windsor CO were brought in and APA Colorado had its banner at the event. APA Colorado gave the speaker gifts of APA Colorado lapel pens, and a John Fielder calendar. She finally noted that we solicited sponsors to help defray some of the costs incurred by Embassy Suites and we had over $1000 pledged from companies such as Stan Clauson Associates, Inc.,

Steer Davies Gleave, HDR and Revolution Advisors, concluding this was a very altruistic show of support.

Susan informed the Board that the FAICP nominations were been submitted for Stan Clauson, Kurt Culbertson and Denise Balkas.. Each person’s nomination group completed the individual applications and APA Colorado wrote the cover letter and covered the cost. She noted we didn’t submit any last time and this year we submitted three.

2. Secretary/Treasurer’s Report – Joni Marsh, Secretary/Treasurer

a. November 1, 2013 Minutes

Joni reviewed the minutes provided and asked if there were any corrections. Susan noted the misspelling of Susan Daggett and Julio Iturreria.

Motion by TJ to approve the November minutes with corrections noted.

Second by Eric.

Discussion: None

Vote: Unanimous

b. November 2013 Financial Report

Joni summarized the financial reports, noting an income of $7,881 and expenses of $14,697 for the month. The organization currently has a net income of $17,695. She concluded that the list of checks, deposits, and profit loss reports were included for review. Susan noted the sponsorship deposits for flood recovery workshop and inquired if it would be problematic for the bookkeeping. Joni noted as long as they are coming in and going out of the right line item, the books should be ok.

Motion by Stan to approve the November financial report.

Second by Tareq.

Discussion: None

Vote: Unanimous

3. Chapter Administrator Report

a. Vail Conference Survey ReportShelia summarized the survey report noting that overall the response was positive. The areas that received the most criticism were the Wednesday night opening reception and the Awards reception. Most commented that the opening reception bowling was fun and a good idea, but the venue was too small, and too crowded. The awards reception was too long and boring. Many suggested going back to the cocktail reception although it doesn’t highlight the winners as well. Tareq said what was nice about the reception was the poster display and suggested it be left up for the whole conference. Susan said there was a videographer with UC Denver who did it in previous years and she asked Carrie if there was interest. Carried said they do have someone at UC Denver on staff but he has a long lead time. James noted that in TJ's class they had done videos and there is a lot of equipment for students to rent. Carrie said we could probably tap into a resource at UC Denver. Jessica I. said most others do an awards session with a meal but she liked the poster idea too. Susan said we had done a sit down meal in the past but people were coming and going making it disruptive. Erica noticed that most conference attendees came to the reception but didn’t come into the actual awards ceremony so it would be nice to set it up in an integrated area with the food and awards. Carrie agreed. TJ noted that we change the format every year which leads to confusion and we need to better explain what to expect and what is expected. Board members expressed a concern that people won’t come next year. Jessica I. asked about a sponsorship survey and Shelia said she hasn’t done one but will. Stan talked about the ASLA awards and the use of a single video. He hopes we move in that direction. Shelia will forward the comments from the survey to the Crested Butte conference committee and the Awards Committee.

b. 2016 Conference RFP

Shelia summarized the survey’s ranking results for the 2016 conference noting that Boulder, Downtown Denver and Fort Collins were the top three choices. She said she would work with Conference Direct to target the RFPs to those areas. Lor asked where Pueblo fit in and encouraged us to look at it. Stan said the fact was no one wanted to go based on the survey results. Erica said we need to look at community support when picking a destination. Lor wanted to know who wanted the conference in Colorado Springs and Shelia responded that communities along the Front Range that could handle the conference were put on the short list. Susan said out of fairness we should include Pueblo and that the community support might outweigh the facility issues. Eric asked about the conference criteria and Eric said he would like to be open minded and include Pueblo in the short list. Lor said she would base the lack of attendance at the Colorado Springs web launch party as a rationale for not considering Colorado Springs. Erica suggested putting out an inquiry to Colorado communities to see if they have an interest in hosting the conference in 2016. Susan suggested a possible survey next year to the entire membership to get feedback on future locations and those interested in hosting. TJ reminded the Board that we can do polls on Facebook and the new website. Julio noted that HR departments are restricting travel costs if a conference is within 50 miles, not allowing employees to stay onsite or covering meals which can be a deterrent. Julio said it would be interesting to find out that type of information from our surveys. Erica suggested making list of all the communities that can accommodate our conference then target those communities to see if they would like to take the lead for future conferences. Susan mentioned Embassy Suites in Loveland asked for them to be considered. Shelia concluded that the RFP would be sent to Boulder, Downtown Denver, Fort Collins, Embassy Suites Loveland and Pueblo. Jessica I. said we need to look at the benefit to the organization not just the financial benefit to the community, noting that if Pueblo needs training then a regional event should be held there. Lor said Julie Ann Woods is interested in that and they will get something scheduled. Carrie noted that they did a great presentation at the conference.

c. 2014 Meeting Schedule

Shelia summarized the choices and asked for location fillers. The Board agreed on the proposed dates and made suggestions for alternate locations to downtown Denver. Shelia said she would incorporate the information and distribute the dates before the next meeting.

d. Miscellaneous

Shelia summarized the various upcoming events. Stan reiterated his dislike of the partnership on the sign workshop and Tareq agreed. Susan said it seemed like a good opportunity for the organization since it was at no cost but noted it might be a learning opportunity. Shelia stated she agreed to the partnership for the training because it offered 6 CM credits at not cost to the organization. She also noted that she had attended an electronic message board workshop held by the Colorado Sign Association in the past and found it informational. Shelia then reminded the Board of the upcoming DCI & APA Colorado holiday happy hour and the WISE holiday networking event.

4. Old Business – None

a. Website – TJDlubac, VP Communications

TJ debrief the board on the website launch and current status. He thanked the Board for doing their part to get it up and running but noted that because it’s up there is a need to keep the information relevant. Shelia and TJ will be getting training on the website and are working to get one point person for each committee since each committee will be updating its own web pages. TJ then noted how each Board member and committee chair will have their own email address. He then said the final payment hasn’t been made and we are still waiting on the newsletter and email templates. Lor suggested adding the webcast series individually to the website. TJ asked for feedback on the site and suggestions.

Susan asked about the winter newsletter and TJ said his goal is to work on it the week of December 16th. Jessica I. asked if we have themes for 2014 and TJ said he only had one idea so far with “community development.” He said his goal is to keep the newsletters theme-based, noting the feedback has been good.

5. New Business

a. 2014 Budget – Joni Marsh, Secretary Treasurer & Budget Committee

Joni thanked the budget committee. She then noted the two committee budgets that were included (EPP and OCC) and then began discussing the proposed organization budget. First, she addressed the PIC loan repayment which was decreased back to the 2012 level. She reminded the Board that the PIC loan repayment was increased in 2013 to help pay for the website. Next she discussed the newsletter/advertiser line item. She noted that the budget committee discussed combining all sponsorship and advertisements instead of splitting it out. TJ said he’d like to see it split out because they are different types of sponsorships and advertisements and the Board needs to track them. Shelia noted that packages are hard to break out. Erica noted someone had approached APA Colorado about website and newsletter specific opportunities and she said that we now have something of high value with the website. She expressed a concern that we might see companies choose the easy route and pay for website ads but not support the conference. Erica talked about the various options and Shelia said the sponsorship committee should discuss it. Joni agreed and said she and Shelia could work together to track it over 2014. The next item was the cost of conference registration. Joni stated that two years ago the cost was increased from $250 to $265. She noted an increase for 2014 wouldn’t make or break the budget but it should be considered. Eric said the organization should consider using the cost of living as a tool for evaluation conference registration increases. The Board discussed the various pros and cons of raising the fee. Julio offered that Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute offers a discount for multiple registrations. Susan noted that the conference has had good attendance the last two years and an increase might be timely. Erica said most probably won’t notice the difference. Joni said she liked the idea of the cost of living review and adjustment every few years. Tamra noted that between an increase from $265 and $295 is only $30 a person and would probably not be noticed by most organizations. Jessica I. suggested the $275 registration priced based on the 3% cost of living increase. Joni noted that $275 would be an overall increase of $ 2800 to the budget. James asked if student rates would be increased as well. Joni noted that the student rates don’t cover the costs and we should encourage their participation by not raising their rates. Carrie agreed based on her experience and feed back from students that they enjoy the conference, feel they are getting involved and see the benefit and value of attending. Shelia noted the organization covers about one half of the student’s expenses. Carrie noted that some organizations cover everything but the more expensive meals. Erica said it’s collaboration but if we haven’t increased the student rate in a few years. Shelia noted they are valuable assets to her during the conference. The Board concurred that the student rate would not be raised.

The next item for discussion was for a request from the Emerging Professional Planners (EPP) and Outreach & Communication Committee (OCC) committees. Joni said the 2013 budget included $1000 for all committees to use and share. The EPP Committee requested $700 and the OCC requested $1750. Joni noted the question for the Board is do we fund those requests and still leave the regional events and the national conference intact. Based on the registration increase, there would be enough in the budget to fully fund the requests. She wasn’t sure if there were other committees that had budget requests. Susan said we want to encourage events, trainings and activities, but at the same time we have a policy that the organization will provide seed money for events but we expect there to be a charge and to break even or make some income. The Board noted the EPP request sounds great but they need to modify their proposal and charge at events to help off-set some of the expenses. TJ noted he had discussed the request with EPP chairs they said they didn’t want to charge initially because they are a new group made up of new planers and they aren’t sure what their attendance will be. EPP said they will charge for a few events but not all and said the budget is on the high end just because of the unknown. Susan said this is more than any committee has asked for and others have come to the Board with plans to recoup the money. The EPP budget seems to be a request for straight funding with no income. Erica asked if they have any attendance projections and noted that $50 is a lot to expend on refreshments. Eric suggested approving $100 for two events and see how it works out. TJ noted that in his discussions with EPP it is their intent to recoup the money or break even. Tareq said when the Sustainability Committee approached the Board with a funding request; they wanted to raise money to get started. The Sustainability Committee realized that refreshments are nice but not a necessity and they charge for each event. Tareq expressed concern that $525 of the $700 is for refreshments and Erica agreed. The other money was for marketing materials. Susan said the Board could advance them some money and that they consider a nominal fee for attendance. TJ said he liked that idea. The Board agreed to approve $200 for EPP to start with in 2014.

The Board then discussed the OCC request for $1750. Erica said the items identified are a benefit to the chapter as a whole and should be placed under marketing. Jessica I. said as APA Colorado has increased its partnerships over the years, we have been invited to conference as sponsors but there aren’t any materials to represent our organization. Joni stated the total would be added to the 2014 budget and placed as an administrative expense. The Committee expense line item would remain at $1000 with $200 for EPP and the remainder would be available for the other committees. TJ asked about the budget for the regional events and area representatives and asked if the committee talked that. Susan said for some years there wasn’t any money in the budget but even though it was added back the money wasn’t used. In the past the Western Slope conference brought in money but not this year. The Sustainability Committee held a few events this year and the Southwest Area Representative held an event. Susan said the bigger question is that we need to start doing regional events, especially since we advertise that the organization will do it our annual conference.

The last item discussed was the travel line item. Joni noted that the budget committee reviewed how the money was spent in 2013. Stan suggested breaking out registration for events from travel. Joni noted that the organization has overspent in this category every year and the committee is trying to be more realistic for the 2014 budget. Susan asked if the $500 stipend for the Western Planner Representative to attend the Western Planning conference was in the budget and Joni confirmed it was. Susan also asked about the travel expense for a Legislative Co-Chair to attend the Federal Briefing and Joni confirmed it was as well. Joni said that for 2013 we budgeted $6000 and the organization was at $8700 through the middle of November. In 2012 we spent $6800 and in 2011 we spent $7500. Based on the November financial report we are at $9600 to date in this category. Jessica I. asked if the budget committee talked abut cutting out some of the conference attendance and expenses and Susan said yes. Susan summarized the discussion regarding travel to the APA National conference by the President, PDO and Chapter Administrator. She said the budget committee agreed there was a benefit to sending them. She then discussed the requirement by APA National for the Chapter president to attend a minimum of two national events. Susan also said that the Board agreed two years ago to send one Legislative Committee chair to the Federal Policy briefing and we have seen the benefit of that as well to our members. Tareq said Clarion might be able to off-set some of his travel expenses as PDO. Jessica I. asked if there were specific classes or workshops for the Board members who attend the national conference and Shelia noted there is a PDO exchange, meeting with Chapter Administrators, the CPC meeting and the reception. TJ said we should keep the travel expenses in the budget and cut corners where we can. Joni noted that based on the discussion, the budget is now in the positive at $842. She closed by saying the 2014 budget will be brought back to the Board in January,

b. Annual Chapter Administrator Review – Susan Wood, President

Susan said the Chapter Administrator annual review is due. She noted the annual review is a good time to touch base with the chapter administrator. She asked the Board to send any comments to her and complete a review form if desired. She said the forms should be back to her by December 27, 2013 and the review will be discussed at the January meeting.

6. Committee Updates:

a. Awards Committee - Anna Gagne, Committee Chair

No report.

b. Emerging Professional Planners – TJDlubac for Deryn Wagner

TJ said he would follow up with EPP regarding the budget and Susan said to let them know we appreciate their efforts.

c. Legislative Committee - Eric Heil and Dan Bush, Co-chair

Susan said noted the upcoming meeting in January and that TIFF legislation is moving forward.

TJ said the committee meets monthly and continues to look for volunteers.

e. PIC Review Committee, TBD

No report.

f. Professional Development Committee – TareqWafaie, Committee Chair

Tareq summarized his notes and asked that they be incorporated into the minutes (below). He wants to reactivate the Professional Development Committee, start working on website update, advertise the AICP scholarship, establish the spring AICP training and host a FEMA workshop.

1) Establish the PD Committee (January 2014)

a) List of interested members

b) Need to include CU Denver faculty

2) Ken Schroeppel

i) Jeremy Nemeth

ii) KorkutOnoran

3) Website materials update (December 2013)

a) This is a priority for December

b) Need to revise forms as necessary

4) AICP scholarship (December 2013)

a) Need to advertise in December

b) We are allotted two scholarships in Colorado

i) Applies to both the May and Nov testing seats

ii) Choose one for each seating?

c) Applications due to APA Co no later than January 9, 2014.

d) Selections due to APA National January 23, 2014 for May testing window. Will be due in July for the November testing window.

5) Spring AICP training (January 2014)

a) Need to review previous training materials

b) Start thinking about resources (people/financial) needed

6) Informational update Jan/Feb 2014)

a) FEMA – Planning for a resilient community workshop

i) Looking to partner with APA Co.

ii) 4 hour interactive workshop

iii) Target audience – no more than 30 people

iv) 2 front range, 1 west slope

v) Can we keep it free?

g. Sponsorship Committee - Erica Heller, Committee Chair

No report. Shelia said we still need a volunteer and TJ said he would do it.

h. Sustainability Committee - Erica Heller, Board Liaison

No report.

APAS: Shelia apologized for not adding APAS to the agenda. James updated the Board on the possible student/EPP job shadow event and said EPP was open to it but were concerned that they might not have someone with a full day of work to make it worthwhile. He said he would continue to move forward with the concept and see if any EPP members would be interested. Susan suggested a half day shadow and James said he would contact others if a full day didn’t work out. TJ suggested utilizing Carrie’s UC Denver alumni group. James said he would finish with the conference volunteer job descriptions and will be putting a box of information together to pass along to the next student representative.

7. Board Member Updates:

Julio had three handouts for the Board from Western Planner (WP). The one was a request for feedback from WP regarding their proposal to doing a digital newsletter. The Board agreed that a digital newsletter is a good idea and also agreed that Julio should send the feedback on their behalf. The second hand out was information from FEMA about climate change and noted that Colorado is the only internal state that has received a category 4. Julio then discussed Agenda 21 and how it was a big topic at the WP Conference. Lastly he said that HDR is now the new consultant for the South Platte and Metro water table. They will be doing the integration pan for and it will be the first Colorado water plan.